


No Town More Barren Than Our Town (A GrandForks ND AU)

by thethreepassages



Category: Game of Thrones (TV), game of thrones
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Falling In Love, Fluff, Idiots in Love, Mutual Pining, Not Beta Read, Past Cersei Lannister/Jaime Lannister, Past Incest
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-17
Updated: 2020-05-04
Packaged: 2020-06-29 21:17:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19838659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thethreepassages/pseuds/thethreepassages
Summary: Brienne Tarth is a fresh college grad who's spending the summer as a nanny to the Stark children. When she bumps into a handsome stranger the last thing she wants is to see him again, but in a small town like Grand Forks...it's only a matter of time.The AU that literally no one was asking for!





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey all, I'm bad at writing but that has never stopped me before. I started writing this as a joke for my sister and now here we are. I recently finished up college and have lots of time to kill so why not craft a super niche modern AU into the pile of Jamie/Brienne fic. I see this being around 10 chapters long, but that's just a guess for now. Cheers! 
> 
> The title comes from Rain in Soho by The Mountain Goats

**Monday 7:45 AM**

Brienne pulled into the driveway on Reeves Drive, each home in the neighborhood were well maintained multi-story historical beauties with perfectly manicured yards _ ,  _ and the Stark home was no exception. Winterfell was one of the oldest homes on Reeves, and only the house of a local liquor store owner rivaled it’s beauty. Brienna crawled out of her old Toyota Prius just as Professor Stark walked out the front door. 

“Good morning Brienne.” 

“And to you Professor Stark!” Brienne cheerily replied. 

Brienne had once been a student of Catelyn Stark at the University of North Dakota, and she had witnessed firsthand the emotional wreckage left by Ned Stark’s death. She had offered her professor to watch her four youngest children to allow Catelyn to make funeral arrangements, and three years later she was now the Stark’s nearly live in nanny. Brienne was initially worried about the prospect of dealing with children, but she quickly connected with Sansa, Arya, Bran, and Rickon despite coming into their lives during a period of such turmoil. Now she and the Stark children and were good friends, Brienne acting almost as a big sister.

Brienne entered the house to find all the Stark children seated sleepily around the kitchen table, and all still wore their pajamas. Summer vacation began less than a month ago and it was apparent that the kids had already gotten used to sleeping in, but now that their mother was back at work for the summer semester courses, they were to be at least up and awake by the time Brienne arrived. All four children looked up to her with sleepy eyes and blank expressions on their faces, and she had to suppress a chuckle.

“Don’t look TOO excited to see me.” Brienne muttered with a smile. “Have you eaten breakfast already?”

“No, but mom said there’s stuff in the fridge.” Bran replied, his creaking voice making it very apparent that he had just rolled out of bed. 

Brienne opened the refrigerator and pulled out a carton of eggs as well as a bag of pre-seasoned hash browns. 

“Alright, I’ll throw this together. Rickon, Arya, go get showered up now since you two get ready the fastest.” 

The two children rose from their chairs, each moaning like the undead and shambling up the stairs to their respective bedrooms and bathrooms. 

Arya and Rickon returned just as breakfast was ready, and afterwards Sansa and Bran got ready in their bedrooms on the ground floor. By the time everyone was ready to go it was nearly 11:30 and everyone loaded up into the Stark family minivan. Brienne helped to load Bran and his wheelchair into the car, and once everyone was safely buckled they were off to the mall. 

As always, the kids were making fun of each other in only the way siblings could. 

At 17 Sansa was the eldest and she really was the image of her mother, she was as poised and proper as a young woman could be, but she was capable of being as silly as her younger siblings. Arya was only two years younger than her sister but couldn’t have had a more different disposition. Playful barbs shot back and forth between the two with such speed and precision that Brienne couldn’t help but laugh in between her attempts to break the two up. 

“I don’t know why you think you’re in  _ any _ position to comment on my makeup today Arya.”

“Is that what you’re calling it now? Sansa that purple eyeshadow makes you look like the hot girl gremlin!”

“You think the lady gremlin is hot?”

Arya crossed her arms around her chest. “I said what I said.” 

Sansa rolled her eyes and Bran let out a snort at his sister’s joke. Rickon stared intently at his phone playing minecraft, completely unaware of his siblings around him.

“You legit look like Billie Joe Armstrong with that eyeliner.” Sansa quipped 

“Aw man that sucks, I was actually modeling it after your 8th grade class picture.” 

Sansa couldn’t help but laugh at her own expense. “God you’re a bitch.” 

“Okay ladies, let's break it up” Brienne yelled from the driver’s seat. “Nobody is a B!”

All of the children snickered at their nanny’s unwillingness to even go so far as uttering a curse word under her breath. It wasn’t as if the Stark kids went out of their way to clear up their language for Brienne, and they all found it rather amusing. Even the two young boys would use curse words with more vulgarity than Brienne. 

“Yeah yeah, laugh it up.” Brienne said without any malice. “I’m gonna park in the lot near the food court if that’s alright.”

She took the silence as a yes, and pulled into a spot in the middle of the lot. The kids scrambled out of the doors before she could even grab her purse.

“Wait!” she yelled, but it was no use. The Stark children were all polite, but they were wild as wolves. Brienne turned the key to turn off the van, and slowly crawled out of the vehicle. All of the kids were out of her sight before she could even hit lock on her FOB. 

She let out a sigh and made her way towards the double doors of the mall.

~~~

The Columbia Mall was what America meant when news reports insisted that malls were dying. When Target pulled out of the complex, store after store followed in suit. The entire place smelled like the pet store, and it couldn’t even keep a bookstore in business for long. Despite the flickering lights and the abundance of empty storefronts, the local youths needed a place to congregate, and congregate they did. In the summertime the entire complex was busy, and the whole place was heavily air-conditioned to fight away the heat that beat down on the North Dakota prairie. 

Brienne found a bench in one of the long hallways of the mall and took a seat as she pulled out her phone to send a message to each of the Stark children. 

_ Okay. Where is everyone? _

Brienne hit send into the group chat 

_ Arya- Rickon, Bran, and me are over by the pets _

_ Sansa- I’m at the bookstore. The new one by the Victoria Secret.  _

_ Brienne- Keep an eye on each other, I’m sure I’ll just be hanging out near all the benches by the Scheels sports store. Text when you’re ready to go get lunch _

Brienne pushed her phone into her pocket, and pulled a novel from her bag. She had decided on re-reading  _ The Song of Achilles _ for what she figured must have been the 8th time. She knew the story well, and could people watch while glossing over the words. She loved the classics and in another world she would have taken the Greek and Latin language courses that were required of someone to do serious academic work in the field. She had instead settled on a more general degree in History. As she opened her dog-earned novel the rest of the world fell away until suddenly Sansa sat down next to her on the bench.

“Brienne, do you think I’d look good in boots?”

“Uh..”

“Well I mean I really normally don’t go for that kind of thing, but everyone has them and Margery looks so cute in hers, especially when she wears them with sun dresses.”

“Sansa, I’m the last person you should be asking for footwear advice.” Brienne laughed while modeling her shredded Birkenstocks, she had purchased them LONG before they came back into style, and would be wearing them long after. 

“Oh stop it, you’ve got a great sense of style.” Sansa replied as she mockingly delivered a slow motion slap to Brienne’s arm. 

Brienne just rolled her eyes.

“Okay well, you be that way! I’m going to go try on boots and if I don’t look like Kacey Musgraves in them it’ll be all your fault.” Sansa turned up the dramatics to an 11 as she stomped away and headed into the Boot Barn that was just a little ways farther down the hall. Right before she entered the store she whipped her head around and shot Brienne a sad puppy dog look.

“Come onnnn  _ Briiienne _ .” Sansa loudly whined from down the hall.

“Oh my GOSH, alright!” Brienne rolled her eyes as she placed her bookmark in her novel and walked over to Sansa.

“See? I knew you couldn’t resist.” Sansa said cheerily as the pair made their way into Boot Barn. “I think I want neutral boots, nothing with too much sparkle.” 

The entire store was packed to the brim with expensive jeans, spangly belts, and hats. Generic pop country played over the speakers and Sansa pulled her nanny towards the wall of women’s cowboy boots. As she was being drug through the store, someone stepped out from one of the aisles and Brienne accidentally delivered a solid check from her shoulder.

“Oh my goodness! My apologies. I didn’t see-”

The stranger caught themselves on a clothing rack and narrowly avoided being knocked to the ground. They turned their head and Brienne met the eyes of a man who was undoubtedly the most attractive person she had ever seen in real life. She made a conscious effort to not let her jaw drop, she hoped it worked. 

It definitely didn’t.

“S’alright” the man said, quickly regaining his composure and standing back up, his head tilted up to meet her eyes as she stood just a hair taller than him. “Won’t be the last time someone tries to knock me to my ass.” His voice carried the ghost of a southern drawl, just barely noticeable under the drawn out vowels of a midwestern accent. 

Brienne felt her face burn. Why did she need to embarrass herself in front of THIS man of all people. 

“I’m so so sorry!”  __

“Really, don’t worry about it.” The man laughed a little under his breath and walked towards the entrance of the store to leave. Sansa and Brienne both watched with gaping mouths as the golden blonde stranger walked away. 

Brienne turned around to face her companion. 

“Jesus  **Christ** Brienne.” Sansa said with wide eyes, still watching the spot where the man had left the store. “I didn’t know they made people who look like that in real life.” 

Brienne’s face had not yet begun to cool. “I...yeah…” The combined forces of the man’s beauty and her own embarrassment left her unable to form an intelligent sentence. 

As they both stood in stunned silence, Brienne’s phone began to ping and alerted her to text. She pulled it from her bag and saw that Arya and the boys were ready to go get food.  _ Thank God _ she thought, she needed to get away from this mall as fast as possible. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I return to an abandoned fic with an idea of where I'm going, and the Lannister boys head to the rodeo.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, yikes. Sorry AH. There's nothing to say but life got busy and now I have lots of time to work on this. I promise I will do my best to keep updates coming in a timely fashion. Thanks to everyone who's popping back in, and for everyone just reading for the first time. Everything I write is for funsies and I don't have a beta, so please keep that in mind when commenting. I make mistakes, and I just love these characters. Okay thanks :)

“You’re going to send me to my grave dear brother.” 

“You’re being entirely too dramatic.” Jaime rolled his eyes “I don’t care if I look like I look a little flamboyant. I like dressing for the occasion.”

The two Lannisters stood in the lobby of their apartment. They both lived in units on the top level and made everyone else who was unlucky enough to share the building with them regret their choice of housing.

“Jaime, you aren’t dressed for the rodeo. You look like you’re going to go model for some erotic cowboy art.”

Jaime raised a brow sharply. “Is that supposed to be an insult? Because it doesn't feel like one.” He crossed his arms over his embellished shirt and the tight fabric fought against him. The outfit was a relic of his days of barrel racing. “I don’t get to wear this sort of stuff very often anymore and I wanted to break it out of the back of my closet.”

Tyrion gave his older brother another exaggerated look up and down. “Alright, but don’t be surprised when people ask if you lost a fight with the bedazzler.”

“Do you want a ride or not?” Jaime asked as he held the door open for his brother. 

“As if you’d actually leave me behind.” 

Tyrion followed Jamie out of the lobby and into the car that his brother insisted on driving around. It was a 1992 Camaro and Jaime had bought it all by himself, it had been the first thing that he had purchased all on his own, without any help from his father. He drove it as if it was a stylish Bugatti fresh off the lot. 

~

The brothers had always been close, but they had truly become inseparable since they had moved to North Dakota together. Their father had purchased farmland in the valley and Tyrion was to move north so Tywin could keep a set of eyes on the family’s business, with the added benefit of getting rid of the son he openly resented. The older Lannister brother had insisted that he join his brother, much to the dismay of their sweet sister. A line in the sand was drawn, Cersi or Tyrion, and against all reason, Jamie had chosen his brother, not that Tyrion was complaining. He hadn’t anticipated the breakup sticking, it never had before, and there had been  _ many  _ breakups. Nonetheless, Tyrion was happy that his older brother had allowed himself to reintegrate himself into living life as a single man for the first time in his adult life. And it was all the better that they got to finally live their lives without the whirlwind of drama that accompanied Cersi. The Lannister boys were living their lives freer than they ever had before, and that more than made up for the fact that they were doing it in North Dakota. 

After a year in Grand Forks, they had settled into their little routines. Tyrion was taking courses online through the university in town and worked on the campus bookstore a few days a week. Jaime had bounced around looking for his niche, but he had now settled in at an organization that focused on helping kids learn to ride horses. The business ran regular classes, but they also had a large outreach program to get disadvantaged kids riding. Their day gigs kept them busy, but their father had insisted that their rent was covered. It would not stand to have any Lannister living in squalor. Tyrion was more than happy to have his life bankrolled by his father, he was of the mind that if Tywin was going to make his life a living hell, the least he could do was pay for it. Jaime, however, loathed having the debt to his father hanging over him as a constant reminder that Tywin owned him.

Jaime pulled off the highway and towards the Alerus Center. “It’s been so long since we’ve done anything like this.” He said through a wide grin.

Tyrion rolled his eyes hard. “I don’t recall  _ ever  _ doing anything like this. I do hope the rules aren’t more complicated than stay on the cow.”

“The bull.” Jaime corrected “and no, you’ve pretty much got it. Enough to drink beer and watch anyway.” 

“Drinking and watching, I think I can manage that. Have you got the tickets?”

Jaime nodded sharply and patted twice at his breast pocket to ensure they were still there. “Are you ready to rock and roll?” 

~

The seats Jaime had gotten were pretty good. Even though Tyrion didn’t love that he could smell all the animals, he did like how close they were to the bar. Seven dollars a beer was a small price to pay to get to see Jaime like this. It had been a lifetime ago the last time Tyrion had seen his brother so unabashedly happy, and it was infectious. Every time Jaime stood to cheer, Tyrion was on his feet next to him. Did he understand why they were cheering? No. But that didn’t matter one bit. His brother was having the time of his life watching dudes get yeeted off dangerous animals, and that was more than enough to have him interested in the sport. 

"I'm gonna go grab another beer, do you want anything?" Tyrion asked as he scooted off of his seat. 

"Nah, I'm good," Jaime replied without taking his eyes off of the action.

Tyrion braved his way up the concrete steps and made his way over towards the concessions. He got in line and made sure to clear his throat. It was a habit he had developed a few years back. People in crowds just didn't pay that much attention to those around them, so to avoid getting stepped on and making everyone uncomfortable he would make a small noise to try to get people to notice him and in turn avoid knocking him to the ground. 

The line moved at a snail's pace. The bar was clearly understaffed, but Tyrion wasn't really worried about missing any of the action down on the field. People continued to collect behind him without anyone really moving forward.

A delicate voice caught his attention. "Even if his PT does help, I don't think that he'll be really satisfied with it. Like, he was never a really sporty kid, but he misses being able to do things that the other kids get to do. I don't know. He doesn't talk a lot about it, but I can tell it's hard for him."

Tyrion's ears perked up. He knew how the poor kid felt.

"Is there like a league or something at the YMCA for kids who use wheelchairs?" Another woman's voice asked.

"Not that we've been able to find. Brienne and I were looking for stuff online last week and there are some programs in Fargo, but the schedules conflict with his appointments."

Tyrion turned his head slightly to get a look at the women having the conversation. Two girls, college students maybe. One with dusty blonde hair and the other was auburn and tall, as in nearly as tall as Jaime. Her eyes met his, and she gave him a small smile.  _ Shit.  _ He had to think of something to say, and fast. 

"Sorry to listen in to your conversation, but um, my brother works at a farm just outside of town and they teach kids how to ride horses. I know that they've worked with kids with mobility aids in the past."

The girl with the auburn hair smiled so brightly that Tyrion could have sworn she radiated light. "Do you know the name of the place?" She asked.

"It's Red River Riding or Ride Red River. It's a combination of those words, I'm not sure the order."

"I'll look into it." She said sweetly. "Thank you."

"Yeah, of course. No problem." Tyrion felt like he must be as red as a fire engine. Kindness always made him a little embarrassed, but coming from her it felt more like mortifying. He wasn't sure if he wanted to disappear under a rock or meet her gaze for hours. Thankfully the line had progressed and he was able to slide his card across to the bartender and order a Bud Light. Once he had it in hand, he turned quickly and hurried back to his seat. 

He handed Jaime the beer, and his brother held onto it until he was able to crawl back into his seat. Jaime handed it back over to Tyrion. 

"Everything okay?" Jaime raised an eyebrow at his brother.

"Yep, totally."

Jaime glanced at down at Tyrion. "I don't know man, you look pretty red."

"Please let me just sit here in my agony."


End file.
